Second time was the charm for a pair of promising fillies that showed the most speed during the session of baby races on Friday (June 24) at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
Ben Baillargeon should know a thing or two about rookie trotter Shiny New Penny. Not only did he train her sire, O'Brien Award winner Alarm Detector, but he also conditioned dam Im Peekers and second dam Im A Munchie Girl. The homebred owned by Baillargeon, Santo Vena and Joey Ingham made her debut in qualifying action two weeks ago with a fifth-place effort and a mile trotted in 2:04.2. On Friday, Shiny New Penny looked like a million bucks in a gate-to-wire 12-length romp for driver Sylvain Filion in 1:59.1 — fastest on the trot during this session.
Shiny New Penny is the first record performer for first crop sire Alarm Detector, and will be a likely contender in the 2022 Ontario Sires Stakes event of the season for two-year-old trotting fillies on July 3 at Georgian Downs.
The eye-opener on the pacing side came courtesy Sweetest Belle, the swiftest horse of the morning thanks to a wire-to-wire 1:56.1 score for driver Chris Christoforou, trainer Suzie Kerwood and owners Frank Brundle of East Garafraxa and Gordon Lyons of Georgetown, Ont.
Sweetest Belle is a daughter of Sportswriter from Joe Hudon's former OSS winner and $232,000 earner My Secret Belle. Her full brother is the promising stakes-placed 2022 sophomore Sport Secret.
The video stream from the Friday session is available below.
Baby races continue at Mohawk with 13 dashes for colts on Saturday (June 25).
For results from the qualifying session, click the following link: Friday Results - Woodbine Mohawk Park (Qualifiers).